Sleeping less on Shabbat – Ask the Rabbi
Q. How do I answer someone who says, “I don’t go to shule on Shabbat. I sleep in!”?
A. Some people with this idea think the letters of “Shabbat” stand for shenah b’Shabbat ta’anug, “sleep on Shabbat is a joy”.
Others manage to go to shule and to keep their extra sleep for after lunch.
Rabbi Chayyim of Tzanz told his pupils that Shabbat was too precious to waste in sleep – and in any case sleep was a matter of quality, not quantity. He could compress more sleep into half an hour than others spread out over a whole night.
